The law sources in the USA
The Constitution was written during the summer of 1787 at a convention of 55 delegates who met in Philadelphia, ostensibly to amend the Articles of Confederation, the country’s first written constitution. The Articles had attempted to retain as much of the independence and sovereignty of the states as possible, while also establishing a central government to carry out important national functions that the states could not handle individually. But the experience of the years from 1781 to 1787 showed that this could not be done, because the national government lacked many essential powers and was weak and ineffective.
The Constitution, the oldest still in force in the world, sets the basic form of government: three separate branches – executive, legislative and judicial, each one having powers over the others – system of checks and balances. The Constitution has been repeatedly amended to meet the changing needs of the nation, but it is still the “supreme law of the land”. All governments and other governmental groups must operate within its guidelines. The ultimate power under the Constitution is not given to the President (the executive branch) or to the Supreme Court (the judicial branch), or to a political party. It belongs to “We the People” in fact and in spirit.
The Constitution organizes concisely the basic US political institutions. It is declared in the main text comprising of 7 articles. The Bill of Rights, or the first 10 Constitutional Amendments, was added in 1791 as the most significant limitations to government’s power over the individual. Among these rights are the freedom of religion, speech, the press, peaceful assembly, the right against unreasonable search, arrest and seizure of property, the right of trial by jury.
Task # 7
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